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The main question asked in the article is: When (if ever) should teams position a guy at second base when Billy is on second in order to create a better pick-off play at second to deter him from stealing third?

Perhaps after a sufficient data set is compiled from the new defensive monitoring system (does it have a name yet?) it should be possible to develop a value for defensive positioning. Then we could weigh that against the value of Billy Hamilton taking third from second.

I just like the fact that he had 7 hits, 2 walks, Pinch ran 7 times and has 13 stolen bases and was caught 1. So he was on base 15 times, and attempted a steal 14 times. As he has stolen more than one base at least once, that suggests he was slacking more than once.

He is slacking a lot more in spring training this year. 11 hits, and 6 walks and only 9 attempts... all successful.

Hamilton was on base three times last year when he didn't try to steal.

1. September 18: In the second inning, he doubled. Choo took a strike and then drove him in on the second pitch. Hamilton stole four bases later in the game.
2. September 22: In the third inning, Hamilton singled and then Chris Heisey fouled out on the first pitch to end the inning. The Reds were up 7-0 at the time.
3. Also Sept. 22: In the eighth inning, Hamilton doubled and didn't try to steal as Heisey took two balls. Heisey fouled two off and then singled Hamilton home. Hamilton did have two steals that day.

In his prime he generally threw in the high 80s. The 1993 Stats handbook says he throws a fastball that ranges from 83 to 89, and his high school scouting report has him around there too. He could probably have pumped it up a bit above that, but he was obsessed with movement rather than velocity.

The top 4 of the '93 Braves rotation was just about perfectly balanced -- two guys who threw soft (Maddux and Glavine) and two guys who threw hard (Smoltz and Avery), with one soft tosser and one hard thrower from each side.

When Bryce Harper first came up he was like a tornado on the basepath. It didn't accomplish much in the grand scheme of things but you learned quickly that you didn't take your eyes off him until he was in the dugout.

When Bryce Harper first came up he was like a tornado on the basepath. It didn't accomplish much in the grand scheme of things but you learned quickly that you didn't take your eyes off him until he was in the dugout.

For those who can’t watch it: He crushes a line drive hit to right field. The right fielder lazily sits back, bobbles it slightly, and lobs the ball back to the infield. ...But Harper was watching the whole time. And as soon as he saw the outfielder was being lazy (playing back on the ball, not running in on it), he decided he was going for two, and he winds up with a double on a head-first slide.

Just…really remarkable baseball. He has to be the only person in the game who gets to second base on that hit.

He'll have a different shape to his batting line and he won't have the defense, but somebody like Gary Pettis may not be a bad comp. Through age 30, Pettis was -48 Rbat on a 76 OPS+ (seems it should be worse) but added 39 runs between baserunning and DP avoidance. That was enough to make basically a league average offensive player. Ichiro added about 10 runs a year between those two. Last year Alexei Ramirez (284/313/380) was -11 Rbat and Andrus (271/328/331) was -12 ... Hamilton won't have to hit very much to be a league average offensive player especially since his baserunning may be mind-blowing.

Tony Campana can fly. According to b-r, he's had 188 SB opps and attempted to steal 69 times. Hamilton won't get 188 opps this year but I imagine he'll run more often. Campana is 62 for 69 in his career. His Rbase is +13 (includes a lot of PR) plus another +3 in Rdp in only about a half-season of PAs.

Then there's Womack. At his peak (ages 27-31 so he was probably losing some speed by then) he averaged 9-10 runs per year in Rbase + Rdp.

So it seems reasonable to put Hamilton in the 10-15 category.

He'll have a career of at least a 2-3,000 PA -- even Womack and his 74 OPS+ was above replacement for those years -- the defense and OBP will determine how much longer he lasts.

You play the second baseman right in front of Billy, so Billy can't see when the ball actually leaves the pitcher's hand. Me? I just want to see one year - just one - where MLB rescinds the foul-strike rule. Then we could actually compare Billy Hamiltons. - Brock Hanke

Does Snapper dislike the stolen base or just the ancillary crap that comes with it? Y'know the, step off, courtesy throw off, step off, give a nasty look, visit from the catcher to discuss what pitch to throw if we ever get around to throwing the baseball, step off quick throw over while the guy is half a step off the bag...or as we call it in Boston "the Buchholz."

I have a recollection of Bill James discussing this in one of the abstracts talking about artificial turf. The idea being that one of the odd things about speed is that it actually winds up slowing the game down.

Does Snapper dislike the stolen base or just the ancillary crap that comes with it? Y'know the, step off, courtesy throw off, step off, give a nasty look, visit from the catcher to discuss what pitch to throw if we ever get around to throwing the baseball, step off quick throw over while the guy is half a step off the bag...or as we call it in Boston "the Buchholz."

The ancillary crap.

I hate the current pace of the game, and base stealers make it even worse.